Finally, I am getting a chance to get this up. I had to wait until after Christmas, so that I didn't ruin the surprise! This year for Christmas I made hobby horses for my son, nephew and God-son. I wasn't sure how they all would take to them- but they were a hit! My one yr. old son has even taken his horse to nap time with him a few times!
Excuse the mess but here is the only picture I could snap with two of the boys running around with them. They 'galloped' all over the place and were hard to capture on film! You can tell it's Christmas time with toys all over the place!
So here are the instructions. You can of course change this to personalize your horse. I could see a purple feather boa for a girl mane, or twine instead of leather scraps. Rhinestones for eyes, funky colored socks. . .the list goes on. If you have a neat idea, please share!
1. Fill sock with polyfill. I used men's socks, but you could do smaller if you wish.
2. Glue, stitch, or screw on eyes. I bought doll eyes that are screws. This is a great no-sew alternative. You just poke them through the sock (takes a little wiggling to stretch a hole out), then there is a back that you screw on to keep them in place.
3. Start the mane. This take the longest. I chose different colors, but you could do just one. I would not recommend any of the thick yarns, as it would be hard to pull it through the sock. I used large needles and pulled the yarn through. I would pull it through so that I had about two inches give or take on each end of the yarn sticking through. Then each piece needs to be knotted to keep it in place. Told you this takes the longest. I did this while watching (rather listening) to TV one night after my son was in bed. One horse can easily be finished in a night.
4. Stitch on the ears. I used two different colors and types of felt. The inside I used the soft felt in a dark brown. For the outside of the ear I used a lighter brown and used a stiff felt so they would stand upright. I creased them at the base and stitched them onto the sock.
5. Next I glued on the leather reigns. We just happened to have some leather scraps on hand, but you could use yarn, ribbon or twine for this. I just cut a scrap to fit around the nose and glued on the bottom. Then I cut a piece long enough to be the reign that you hold onto. I glued the end pieces to the leather scrap around the nose.
6. To attach to the dowel rod, my husband cut the in. dowel rod to fit the height of our son. We just kind of guessed at this. Then he made a notch around the dowel rod where I marked it for him where the base of the sock would be tied off. This gave a notch for me to secure the sock to just using string.
Ta Da!
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